Divinyl polysiloxane modified polyacrylate for promoting the directional migration of disperse dyes in digital jet dyeing of polyester fabric without washing

Abstract

Future developments in the printing and dyeing industry will involve greenisation and personalisation. Less/no water digital technology has drawn much attention over traditional printing and dyeing for reducing carbon and emissions. Based on the solubility parameter difference between disperse dyes and monomers, divinyl polysiloxane modified polyacrylate (PSMA) with the directional migration effect for disperse dyes was prepared herein via mini-emulsion polymerisation. PSMA was used as wash-free polymer additive in the digital jet dyeing of polyester fabrics with disperse dyes, which yielded wash-free dyed fabrics with high color yield and color fastness. The results showed that PSMA achieved the optimum overall performance at a molar ratio of octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane to 1,3-divinyltetramethyldisiloxane 44:1 and divinyl polysiloxane dosage of 4 wt%. PSMA had the best tensile properties, good flexibility, certain hydrophobicity and high directional migration of disperse dyes. When the PSMA dosage was 9 wt% in the wash-free ink, the front and back color yield of the wash-free dyed fabric were 18.23 and 13.56, respectively. Compared with the fabric dyed with pure liquid disperse red, the front color yield of the wash-free dyed fabric increased by about 35.2 % and the back color yield had a little change. Its color fastness to dry/wet rubbing were improved from grade 3 to 4 and from grade 2–3 to 3, respectively. The handle of the wash-free dyed fabric basically maintained the level of original fabric.